iamsecond: Reset

60-Days-of-Second: Follow along as 15 bloggers journey through 4 readings each from the new book, Live Second: 365 Ways to Make Jesus First. Together they will blog through 60-Days-of-Second. Register to follow at www.iamsecond.com/blog. Get the “Live Second” book in stores December 9.

Day 6 by Jon Cook.

“Noah’s family would start with a sacrifice, a promise to obey, a commitment that God would be their God. What direction have we chosen for our family?” –Live Second, 7.

If your family history is anything like mine, then you probably have a few ghosts from generations past that come out from under the table at family reunions. Maybe dad was a drunk or mom has anger issues. Maybe grandpa was a pervert. Maybe your family has more things wrong with it than you can count and it seems that’s just the way it’s always been. I think all families have at least one black eye when it comes to bad decisions further up the family tree. The beautiful thing is that it can take only one person to reset a family’s direction.

For my family, that reset started with my dad. He made the active decision to not repeat a lot of the habits and hurt that other family members had given into before him. It was my parents who decided enough is enough and started stepping in a new direction. It was their decision to live differently that helped pull a U-turn on my family’s direction.

The decision to walk away from God came way before Noah’s time. He had no control over it. By the time he came on the scene, wickedness and corruption had wrecked the direction of mankind. The flood was a reset, a fresh start for Noah’s family and creation. For all of the wickedness and destruction that had been caused, this was a clean slate to start all over again.

This reading was a great reminder to me: I have the chance to be a reset for the future. My choices and my decisions have a timeless impact on the path my family takes. It’s up to me how my attitudes and words and actions affect the future of my family. How I respond to the struggles of life and the struggles inside of me have a huge impact on the direction my family takes.

I can live second through how I respond in kindness. I can live second through how I value my family’s needs over my own. I can live second through my decision to take a step in the direction of God. I can choose grace instead of hate. I can choose love over selfishness. I am the only one responsible for what I do and as my decisions go, so goes my family’s future.

I am the reset for my family. I am the one responsible for how I influence my family into the future. How I follow God is up to me. How I love my family well is up to me. I’m the one responsible for helping lead my family towards God and away from a flood.